Normal Life
by Proud to be Plug
Summary: People think Nico di Angelo is a complex, deeply troubled young man. But really, he just wants one thing. One-shot.


**Author's Note:**

**This is a slightly depressing one-shot I conceived after finishing "Dinner with Death." I don't think it's great, but this is the best I could make of it, and I wanted to publish it before I gave up on it completely and deleted it! The unusual capitalisations in the first paragraph are on purpose. Flame, rave, whatever, just be sure to review. Thanks. **

**EDIT (04/11/11): This is not an update, just a minor edit.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. All my fanfic writings are non-profit. Tis all for fun. **

Normal Life

People look at Nico di Angelo and say, look at him, he is Troubled. He has Issues. He is Conflicted. Some may even say, he needs Help.

But none of this is true.

Nico di Angelo is not conflicted. He only has one issue, really.

He just wants a normal life.

Not a fully normal life, like what the mortals have. That would be impossible for any demigod, and anyway it'd be too boring.

No, Nico wants what people like Percy Jackson have: a life which is half in the world of the gods and half not.

For even as demigods go, Nico has a highly abnormal life. He has no mortal relatives that he can talk to (he has a few relatives in Italy, but they don't even know he exists); he doesn't have a father, not really: Hades is more of a boss than a parent, though he does have his slightly tender moments; if Nico isn't at Camp Half-Blood, he's shadow-travelling around America, wandering and fighting monsters, truly he has no real home.

Nico looks at Percy, when he considers these things. The son of Poseidon has his mortal mother, his stepfather, he even has a couple of mortal friends. The hero of Olympus has all these things to keep him grounded, to remind him that life is not all swords and monsters.

They say the grass is always greener on the other side. But Nico never felt this applied to him. He doesn't have any grass on his side to compare! His side, of that uncrossable line of fate that everyone is subject to, is hard concrete. And on the other side…well, he tries not to look.

He had Bianca when he was younger, of course. She was the only person who ever truly understood him. But then she left him, not long before he needed her the most.

Percy is one of his best friends, but he has never fully gotten beyond his resentment towards his cousin. At first he thought it was because of Bianca, and in part it was. But really, his resentment towards Percy stems from jealousy: jealousy of that _normality_ the son of Poseidon has. Both of _his_ parents are nice to him. _He_ just turns up at Camp Half-Blood every summer, saves the world, and goes back to his happy family. His _normal_ family. While the son of Hades has no real home. While Nico wanders, trying to find someplace where he feels truly comfortable.

Perhaps this is why he finds himself becoming friends with the incomparable Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She, too, lacks a normal life. She, too, has a demanding father, an essentially non-existent mother, and a life which has no direct connection to normality.

She would appear to be completely different from him, on the surface. And indeed, people are surprised as these seemingly opposite poles grow close.

But in truth, they are kindred spirits, as cliché that may be.

Both are searching for some emotional connection. Something to make their life feel deeper, normal, even.

And as they grow closer, they both begin to feel that maybe, just maybe, they have found what they need in each other. They both realise that what they were really looking for was someone who could understand them. And they found this in each other.

And slowly, Nico begins to see that all these years, when he thought he was pining for a normal life, in fact all he wanted was to be happy. He realises that it's not about your _life_ being normal, it's about _you_ being normal.

~P~

Very few people are happy with their life. Very few ever will be. But it's not the being happy that's important. It's the trying to become happy that truly matters. And as long as you keep trying, as long as you never give up on making the best of things, you will be that thing Nico di Angelo searched so long for.

Normal.

~P~

**This is the last one-shot I'll be putting up for a while, as I'm going to start work on a long fic, so I need to work out the plot and stuff. Not sure when you'll get another update from me, but it should be within the month.**


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